India to spend over Rs 2 lakh crore on military arms in 2 years

New Delhi: Amid an ongoing seven-and-a-half-week-long tense stand-off between the Indian and Chinese troops near the Bhutan border and ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops, India is planning to set aside about Rs 2,12,843 crore by way of capital expenditure to buy weapons and related military hardware in the next two years.

The medium-term expenditure framework statement laid down before Parliament on Thursday has projected Rs 1,01,137 crore for 2018-19 and Rs 1,11,706 crore for 2019-20 on new military purchases while the total expenditure projections for defence as a whole for 2018-19 and 2019-20 are Rs 2,01,511 crore and Rs 2,18, 629 respectively.

The aggregate revenue expenditure in the defence demand (excluding defence pensions) is expected to grow by at least 10.4% in 2018-19 and 8.5% in 2019-20 over the previous years’ estimates and projections.

These projections are expected to provide a focus to the defence ministry and also a general direction to its fiscal management.

According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India remains the world’s biggest arms importer over the past five years having increased its share of global arms imports from 9.7% in 2007–11 to 12.8% in 2012–16. India is also the world’s fifth largest spender on the military after the United States, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

The chief reason behind India’s growing military spend is the lack of a domestic arms industry that can cater to the military needs.

India, China, and Pakistan have been on an overdrive in importing arms over the past two decades.

The general regional security dynamics is dominated by an Indian anxiety over China and Pakistan.